Officially an agented Illustrator!

[StudioLooong]

Great news! I have signed with Dan Cramer of Page Turner Literary Agency. I'm super excited for this next step in my kidlit journey and wanted to drop a quick note of thanks to the team at SVS for helping me get there. After two years of portfolio building and two years of querying, I'm (almost) ready to take my first picture book out on submission!

Thanks so much for all you do @Jake-Parker @Will-Terry @Lee-White

[KatrinaF]

Congratulations! What exciting news! Any bits of advise for the rest of us on the same journey? I'd welcome some insight.

Cheers
Katrina

[Holumpa]

@StudioLooong Congratulations! That is awesome.
I wish you a successful and fun first book project!
May I ask how you chose the agecies you contacted? I feel like lost in a jungle when I try to find criteria for agencies that I might fit in

[AngelinaKizz]

Congratulations!

[StudioLooong]

@Holumpa I've been working on writing and illustrating and also have a full-time job, so I'm really only interested in taking on a small amount of projects a year and would like them to be children's books. While I'm open to other opportunities (I wouldn't turn down an opportunity to work on a board game) I don't need to fill my schedule with smaller projects to pay the bills. Because of this, a literary agency was the best fit for me (as opposed to an art rep). So I started by locating literary agents who repped illustrators as well as authors.

I then narrowed it down to small-to-mid-sized agencies. This is just my personal opinion/impression from listening to podcasts and looking at social media but it seems like slightly smaller agencies have a little more time to highlight and focus on each author/illustrator they represent and I liked that. There are pros to larger agencies as well - they have more visibility and can maintain larger networks than smaller agencies.

After that, I looked into the artists and writers currently on each agent's list. I was looking for an agent who represented people who's work I admired but also a list I thought I'd fit in with. My work is digital and my characters are stylized so an agent who gravitates towards traditional/realistic art wouldn't be a good fit for my portfolio.

I also took advantage of every skip-the-slush-pile submission opportunity I could. I eventually connected with Dan through PBParty, but also participated in a number of SCBWI and twitter pitch events.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@StudioLooong woohoo!!! Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you.

[Heather Boyd]

@StudioLooong

Congratulations!!! That's super exciting and well done. Your work will be in a book soon I am sure. Enjoy!

Heather,

[lizardillo]

Congratulations Lovely to hear that all of your hard work has paid off. I wish you all the best for the future.

[StudioLooong]

@KatrinaF Keep trying! I often felt really discouraged or like I was sending queries into a black hole.

Find regular opportunities for critique. My critique groups have been immensely helpful. I've also done portfolio and dummy reviews through SCBWI and The Illustration Department. Both gave me really valuable, personal feedback to help me take my work to the next level.

Take advantage of any submission opportunity you can. I participated in Twitter Pitch events and attended conferences for the submission opportunities (despite being completely burnt out on zoom). Submit to contests where your work can gain visibility. SVS does contests but so does SCBWI and there are other one-offs like the PBPitch Mentorship, PB Party, Little Brown's Emerging artist award and others. These are all great places to make connections.

[ACPetullo]

@StudioLooong said in Officially an agented Illustrator!:

Dan Cramer of Page Turner Literary Agency

Congratulations !

[Jeremiahbrown]

Congrats, that’s really exciting!

[ruth]

@StudioLooong Congratulations!!! That's awesome news! Wishing you every success with your first picture book project.

[Blitz55]

Congrats on that.
Great accomplishment!

[Griffin McPherson]

That’s so exciting! Congratulations!

[LauraA]

@StudioLooong Woohoo! Congratulations! And thanks for the tips as well.

[braden H]

AWESOOOOOOOME!!!!! Good for you!!!!

[Johanna Kim]

@StudioLooong Congratulations, Taylor!!! Wonderful news!

[Lee White]

@StudioLooong Awesome!!!

[Asyas_illos]

Congratulations! Good for you!

[Kristen Lango]

Congratulations!